Clothing freshener - remove B.O. and wrinkles without laundering - just spritz alcohol and water

Clothing freshener and more. What else might you all use this for?

I just made up a new bottle of sanitizing spray for my bedroom. It's a smaller bottle that distributes a finer mist than a larger spray bottle typically used for cleaning. The finer mist means quicker evaporation for my purposes.

FWIW, I used Everclear instead of rubbing alcohol because I've been choosing that over rubbing alcohol these days.

This spray is for three things:
- bras
- shirts (armpits of them)
- wrinkles in clothes

It's usually bacteria that gives us B.O. and as long as that bacteria is not encased in excessive oils, dirt or grime, a quick spritz of booze water, let dry/evaporate (for me/my climate, letting dry overnight is best) and the odor is gone! Nice!

This saves me time, because I don't have to wash bras and shirts as often. It saves money from less washing (less utilities and laundry expenses) and from less wear-and-tear on my clothes so I don't have to replace them as often.

Of course, I am an office worker, with very little, primarily nervous sweat from my work. This method is not as likely to work for heavier sweat situations or if pit paste has encased the bacteria in the fabric.

(Also, just because some folks might go here, I would NOT recommend this for socks or panties, briefs or boxers. Alcohol won't kill fungus or other stuff that could be factors in those places. Changing those garments every day is recommended!)

The other fun use I found for this is as an anti-wrinkle spray without using an iron! Hang your wrinkly item on a hanger, spray the wrinkly area(s) with alcohol mist and stretch or smooth the wrinkles. Let dry. Might take a repeat, and isn't as good as ironing, but it makes a difference! Also, you'd need to know if your fabric would be safe and colorfast for an alcohol misting. I'd recommend testing an inconspicuous area first if you're not sure.

Do any of you do something like this? Or what would you add?

I alternate between using rubbing alcohol and ACV with a bit of essential oil as deodorant. I find I need to alternate, I think because different bacteria grow in different conditions. After using ACV for a few weeks, I start to get a particular odor that I don't like. So I switch to alcohol until I start getting a different particular odor I don't like. Then it's back to vinegar until that odor shows up again, etc.

Just mentioning it in case something similar starts happening with your clothes.

Jan White wrote:I alternate between using rubbing alcohol and ACV with a bit of essential oil as deodorant. I find I need to alternate, I think because different bacteria grow in different conditions. After using ACV for a few weeks, I start to get a particular odor that I don't like. So I switch to alcohol until I start getting a different particular odor I don't like. Then it's back to vinegar until that odor shows up again, etc.

Just mentioning it in case something similar starts happening with your clothes.

That makes sense to me. Though so far, I've not had any problems with fabric odors with the booze method. The odor is gone and the booze evaporates with no residual odor. While sometimes vinegar leaves its acrid scent behind.

I've struggled with deodorants myself because nervous sweat is a whole different animal. It smells far different than sweat from exertion (it's more rank IMHO). Plus I'd read something about it being different that escapes me now.

I found an all natural pit paste that I like, but I don't use it every day. Only when I know I might nervous sweat or get extra hot and sweaty. I've wanted to try an alcohol spray deodorant so it's cool to hear your experience with it. I might change up to trying that after my pit paste runs out.

But back to spraying on clothes. You reminded me that I wanted to mention that I think keeping oils (scent or essential oils) *out* of the freshener / sanitizer spray for clothing is important. The oils could stain or create an oil barrier trapping in the bacteria. Skin is different. Oils are in general a happy thing there. Just not for fabrics.

I stress sweat at work, too. And, yeah, it's very different than regular sweat. I actually haven't found anything that helps with that, and once it gets into my clothing, that's it. Various soaps and detergents, alcohol, baking soda, vinegar, nothing seems to get the smell out of synthetics or natural fibers. The weird part is that the clothes smell fine, wet or dry, until I stress sweat in them again. Then it's like a concentration of every stressful day I've worn them. I've started wearing, whenever possible, light, cotton t-shirts under my office clothes to prevent getting sweat on them, but also to prevent activating the smell that's already lying latent in them.

Jan White wrote:I stress sweat at work, too. And, yeah, it's very different than regular sweat. I actually haven't found anything that helps with that, and once it gets into my clothing, that's it. Various soaps and detergents, alcohol, baking soda, vinegar, nothing seems to get the smell out of synthetics or natural fibers. The weird part is that the clothes smell fine, wet or dry, until I stress sweat in them again. Then it's like a concentration of every stressful day I've worn them. I've started wearing, whenever possible, light, cotton t-shirts under my office clothes to prevent getting sweat on them, but also to prevent activating the smell that's already lying latent in them.

Uff! That totally sucks. I feel for you. I think I've had that kind of sweat permeate some of my clothing too. That's smart of you to layer a bit to preserve the outer garments.

Someone I knew was taking a chlorophyll supplement for their b.o. and it seemed to help them. I don't know if it would help enough with nervous sweat, but it might.

Sweating is so healthy, and eliminates toxins from the body, but personally, I avoid sweating like the plague! Ha! Not very smart of me to avoid it so much. I even worked at a Naturopathic clinic, and one of the main treatments for those with toxin overloads was to regularly sweat in saunas. Patients built saunas at their homes just for their recovery from exposure to toxins.

I posted about this in another group and someone commented there that alcohol sprays like this have been used a lot for ballet costumes to freshen and deodorize between performances without a full cleaning.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:I posted about this in another group and someone commented there that alcohol sprays like this have been used a lot for ballet costumes to freshen and deodorize between performances without a full cleaning.

Thank you for this tip! I tried it due to a current drought and it works!